Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski; Photo credit: Honenu
Wednesday, August 7, 2024, 13:28 Yesterday (Tuesday), security forces and Civil Administration personnel destroyed four structures at Tzur Yisrael, a hilltop community in the Binyamin region. Three Yehuda and Shomron residents who protested the destruction and remained at the site a short time after the structures were destroyed were detained by the police who claimed that they had violated a closed military zone order. The detainees were taken to the police station where they were offered release on condition of five days of house arrest. After Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski, who is representing the detainees, opposed the offer, the police agreed to release them on condition of a restraining order banning them from the Binyamin region. Two of the detainees, both minors, refused the second offer and spent the night in remand.
This morning (Wednesday) the detainees were brought to a hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court. Attorney Poleski demanded their unconditional release on the grounds that the detention was unjustified, the danger they pose under the circumstances of the incident is negligible, the order for the destruction was invalid, and in any event, there were no grounds to set conditions for the release of the minors. The court accepted Attorney Poleski’s position and unconditionally released the detainees.
Honenu Attorney Moshe Poleski: “The court’s decision is precisely appropriate to the circumstances of the incident. The residents did not clash with the security forces and stayed at the site only a short time to collect their belongings after the destruction. The demand to remove them from the site was unjustified. Additionally, the court ruled that because the closed military zone order issued to allow the destruction at the site was invalid, and because the detainees were minors, there was no justification to set conditions for their release. Therefore the judge ordered their unconditional release.”